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Atkinson says you don't "need" to "dismember" people in games

australia

During an interview with an ABC news outlet in Australia, Attorney General Michael Atkinson stated that an adult videogame rating for the country is only wanted by "very zealous gamers" trying to "impose their will" on society.

His comment was in response to the recent rating given to Aliens vs. Predator - a game that Rebellion refuses to edit just to appease censors.

"This is a question of a small number of very zealous gamers trying to impose their will on society, and I think harm society," he told ABC. "It’s the public interest versus the small vested interest. I accept that 98%, 99% of gamers will tell the difference between fantasy and reality, but the 1% to 2% could go on to be motivated by these games to commit horrible acts of violence.

"You don’t need to be playing a game in which you impale, decapitate and dismember people."

Yes. Yes we do, Michael.

In response, Australia’s Interactive Games and Entertainment Association CEO Ron Curry countered Atkinson's remarks, stating that the man has no right to dictate what the population can and cannot interact with.

"It doesn’t seem democratic that a single attorney general should be able to dictate what the vast Australian population can interact with," he remarked. "The government trusts us to be adults with films, but they only want us to be children with games."

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